76,000 govt properties encroached upon

NASHIK: 'Chavadi vachan' - the process of reading out records publicly at the village level - carried out by the district administration has revealed that 7,619 government properties were encroached upon by individuals and groups, against which, the administration has initiated action. The chavdi vachan programme has, in fact, helped the administration more than the people in general.

The process of chavdi vachan was carried out during the Suvarna Jayanti Rajasva Abhiyan, undertaken by the revenue department in which government records in the villages were read out in the gram sabhas, the village body meetings.

"It was during these programmes that we came to know about the government properties, belonging to the various departments, which were encroached upon by a number of people. Corrective measures have been taken on them since then," district collector Vilas Patil said.

The programme was carried out in every village throughout the district as part of the abhiyan, which was aimed at updating the government records, be it related to the land owned by an individual or the distribution of land, transferring property to a nominee, or even other issues, including people who have taken government land on lease but are not sticking to the terms and conditions of transfer or lease of land.

"The properties were encroached upon knowingly or unknowingly by individuals and groups. When the records were read in public, the elders in the society pointed out the exact status of the piece of land. Upon verification by local officials, corrective measures of clearing them from encroachment, and at the same time, the process of issuing notices to defaulters have begun to ensure that the incident is not repeated again," the collector said.

Similarly, the administration has learnt that 4,335 persons, holding lands, had died and that the property had not been transferred to their heirs. "The process was largely observed in remote rural areas of the district where illiteracy and poverty is more. The records were also corrected by the concerned officers," Patil added.

Another major issue that came up was that the administration learnt that 29 of its properties were being misused or the terms and conditions of their lease or transfer were violated. Patil said, "This information also trickled down through the public records during the reading process and notices are being sent to the concerned persons."

In all, 349 properties were developed after seeking non-agriculture permissions and hence, they too will be facing action.

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